Zoey gasped when the gatekeeper appeared. Its fur was denser now and the wind boosting it up had occasional shows of lightning that stretched to the ground below it. Its small mouth stretched into a smile, tiny hands that hadn’t been there before stretched on both sides as if it was opening up for an embrace.

Opening the gates!

The groaning echoed again and David could swear he felt the ground moved under him. Not much, just a shift in position. He wasn’t sure so he grabbed Chloe’s hands and told the others to do the same. They made a small circle, holding each other so they wouldn’t be split up again.

The others scrambled about. David saw some of the others do as they did. There was no thought to it, they held hands randomly, eyes wild with fear and apprehension. The furball looked down at them, it grin wide enough to see tiny white teeth.

“What is…” Elisha’s words were cut off when the floor under them twirled. A loud click echoed, like a key turning in an old lock. The floor moved the other way again and then a loud groan that made David think of stone cracking and breaking and rolling. It didn’t stop. Zoey’s eyes were wide with worry, but Chloe was grinning, enjoying the sway of the ground. David glared at her, but she wasn’t paying attention.

Trial Location: Ifyr’s Deep

Trial reward: Ifyr’s Bounty

“David!” Zoey called pointing down. David’s heart sank as saw the floor vanishing slowly, fading until there was nothing holding them. He heard the screams of the others, all sinking into the darkness below. Still, he held on to Chloe. As the darkness pulled them into its bowel, David took count of his siblings. He stretched his right hand to Elisha, grasping his shirt.

“Where are we going?” Elisha asked. No one answered. There was a sparkle below. Something was coming up to them. No, David thought, they were falling to something. Somewhere. He could see the light widening to accept them now. It stretched until he could see the beginning of something else.

Trees!

They were falling toward trees. That didn’t make sense until the darkness vanished and he realized they were falling from the sky. He cursed. He’d thought the gatekeeper would open a portal and they’d simply walk through. How wrong he’d been.

“You have to let go!” Zoey screamed, wind scattering her words. David nodded. He pulled Chloe to himself, cradling her like she would die or fade away if he let go. He watched Zoey and Elisha slice through the air, falling into the canopy of trees.

“Hold on,” David whispered to Chloe. The darkest of fears were in her eyes. He wasn’t sure how he was going to land without breaking both their necks, but he had to think up something. The trees came so fast that he didn’t have time to think. He stretched out, grabbing hold of a branch, his grip slid off and he fell through.

His back slammed into another branch and leaves slapped his face. He heard a hiss somewhere and decided not to look—not that he could anyway. He held on to another branch, realizing he didn’t need to hold for too long. He let go and grabbed another, reducing the force of his fall until he saw the ground rushing to him.

David landed hard on his back, holding his sister like an egg ready to hatch. He groaned, feeling pain in his arm and shoulders. Surprisingly, nothing else ached. The ground was soft, a bed of moss and grass. Chloe held on to him, her body trembling.

He gave her a moment, he needed to catch his breath too. He’d expected the moss bed to be moist, but he felt warmth from it, and a tiny pulse. He could feel something else too, a fragrance in the air. He sighed, remembering what he had to do first.

“Chloe, we are fine now,” David said, pushing her off him gently. She looked up, tears streaking down her face. He smiled, hoping that would give her some measure of assurance. They stood up, dusting off the bits of leaves and dirt on them. Chloe had some on her hair.

David expected a notification, something like a welcome note. But there was nothing. Just a growing understanding that they were in the trial location already. The air here was different, smelled sweet and David felt good with every breath he took. He couldn’t understand that, but that wasn’t the pressing issue at hand.

“We have to find Zoey and Elisha.”

“Where?” Chloe asked. She was still sniffling but the tears were gone. And she was right, David thought. There was no way he could find anyone here. And the possibility that they landed close together was almost impossible.

Patches of sunlight burst through the holes in the canopies, giving warmth and light. He could still feel the pulsing under his feet, like someone breathing underneath. The trees were what made it obvious they weren’t in any forest on Earth.

Most of the trees twisted about themselves—thin trunks weaving together to form one thick tree. Some had spotted barks and some had glowing purple leaves. The sunlight making the leaves glow harder. There were no fruits, at least none that they could see.

Only flowers, they petals blue, pink, indigo or the red of old blood. They were thin, sweet smelling except the blue ones.

“Don’t touch anything,” David said as they walked through the woods. He couldn’t tell where they were or in what direction his siblings fell, but something pulled him forward. There were birds chirping, some singing, and yet it wasn’t noisy. It felt like everything fit together.

A rustle made them stop. Chloe stepped behind David. The rustling increased and David was about to ask Chloe to run when someone screamed above them. They both looked up, stepping back just as someone fell. Chloe laughed and David shook his head giving Elisha a hand up. The shadow swirled about him for a moment and then dissipated like mist at sunrise.

“That was quite the fall, Ser Assassin,” David said, pulling his brother up. Elisha pushed his hood back and his half veil disappeared too, exposing his face. He looked younger than he was now. His hair was moon-touched on the sides—a few strands. He had a sharper angular chin and his eyes that were dull green before seemed to burn brilliantly.

“I couldn’t reach for my dagger,” Elisha said, groaning. He stretched, wincing when he moved his arm. He looked up at the trees around them, stepped back a little and broke into a run. He leapt up just before he got to the tree and ran up the trunk swiftly. He jumped, his moves fluid and precise. He caught a branch, swung up from it to catch a stretching branch from a nearby tree.

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“What are you doing?”

“Zoey is stuck!” Elisha said and then jumped up to catch another branch. David flinched thinking his fingers would slip, but Elisha caught on, pulled himself up and disappeared into the dense cover of leaves.

David watched the space he’d vanished into until there was no movement. He wondered if something had snatched Elisha from his climbing, but then Zoey’s voice rang through the forest. It seemed to echo everywhere, as if the leaves redirected her screams.

She shot out of the canopy, falling fast. David thought about catching her, but then pushed Chloe back so Zoey wouldn’t hit her. Behind Zoey, Elisha hopped from branch to branch, landing on sure feet, with perfect balance. Zoey crashed on the soft forest floor and rolled to a stop a few paces from David’s feet. Elisha leapt off the lowest branch and landed gracefully.

“Ugh! That was terrible,” Zoey said, pinching leaves from her hair and then turned to glare at David. “You couldn’t have caught me?”

“And lose my arms in the process?” David asked, smiling. “Besides, I knew the floor was soft enough to fall on. Chloe fell too.”

Zoey glanced at Chloe for a moment and groaned again. She picked herself up, still picking leaves from her hair. Elisha’s hood and veil was back on, but not the shadow.

“Where is this?” Elisha asked.

“Ifyr’s Deep,” Zoey said. “Or at least I think it is.” She turned to David and Chloe. “You found any of the others?”

David shook his head. He had wondered about that too. He’d thought they were all sent to one location but he might have been wrong. This might be the trial for them alone. But then what was the trial? To wander around this forest? To kill something? To get something?

As if on cue, a notification sprang out before them and David hissed, wishing he never wondered.

Trial: Retrieve Ifyr’s Heart.

Trial Period: One day

Trial Reward: Ifyr’s Bounty

There was no other information. Nothing else to show the way to find the heart.

“That makes things easy,” Zoey said, looking up from her notification. The notification vanished, replaced by another that made all four of them tense up. David looked up from the notification just in time to see the large head of the centipede slithering down from one of the trees. Its eyes were translucent orbs, through which he could see a gel-like fluid moving about. And then it settled on them.

Its mouth stretched open and from within they could see spiraling rows of sharp, tiny teeth. They all froze. Its mouth vibrated and the tissue in it gave a sick rattling noise. Its antennae fluttered, the glowing blob at each end pulsing gently.

Then Chloe whimpered and the beast screeched. It slithered down the tree, coiling about with so many legs, each sharp and long.

“Run!” David said and picked Chloe up. She clung to him, almost strangling him. His heart raced and his blood pounded in his head. The monster screeched behind them, the rattling noise spreading all over as if it had them surrounded. David took a look behind shoulder and swore. It was long. Whatever that thing was, it was no centipede.

Its segmented body was glossy black, like glass or resin. The head was moss covered, with flowers sprouting over it. That wasn’t normal. Centipedes don’t have bodies like that and they definitely don’t have teeth down the insides of their mouths.

“We can’t outrun it!” Zoey said. And that was the truth. Shadow engulfed Elisha and he vanished, as if the shadow had swallowed him whole. Then a few seconds later the Centipede whined, a long painful scream. It twisted, slammed into a tree and its upper body lifted from the ground.

“Yeah! That did some damage!” Elisha shouted. David and Zoey stopped and turned just as the shadow swallowed Elisha again. He appeared beside Zoey, making her flinch.

“What did you do?” David asked.

“My dagger is a basic weapon so the damage is not that much, but I just realized that this should be a weak monster too, so whatever damage I cause should have some effect.”

David nodded. That was basic understanding. Zoey seemed to be thinking, but the centipede had rolled into its legs again. The ground around it was dug up in the thrashing. Now its eyes focused on them and it blasted forward, its antennae pulsing wildly.

Elisha vanished again, appearing atop the monster’s head, but its body twisted and its mouth widened around Elisha, ready to tear him into shreds. David’s scream caught in his throat when the monster wailed in pain as Zoey’s fist connected with the underside of its head. Her punches rained hard on it, giving Elisha the time to bring his daggers down on its head.

The centipede’s body tightened, hardening every segment of its body as it contracted and its mouth widened. Zoey stared in confusion, but David knew what was about to happen.

“Get away from it!”

The monster’s body shook violently as Elisha ran, pulling Zoey with him. David knew they wouldn’t be fast enough. He placed Chloe down, his legs moving while his mind rushed over what he could do to save them. He could hear his mother saying “Be the eldest.” And his father tearing that orc apart.

What have you really done, David?

The question tormented him even as he saw the notification in front of him. His mind wheeled with the possibilities in what he was about to do. Zoey’s eyes found his and she was about to grab him to pull him back, but David twisted out of reach.

Summon a Sliver of Hell’s Glare?

Element: Fire

Damage: +5 stabbing, +8 slashing, unknown damage when used with essence

Duration: Five minutes

Essence: ---

David accepted. And he felt something erupt in his belly, an oozing volcano. It burned everything—his mind and soul, too. He felt the flames lick at his existence and thought his bones would melt. Dancing tongues of fire danced from his elbow to his hand where an ethereal entity manifested in his hand. The sword burned; a weapon of pure rage and absolute chaos.

Yet he only held a shard of what it could become. The sword weighed down his arm, but David had expected that. He heaved the sword up with his two hands just as the centipede was about to spit out the poisonous sludge and with all his strength, all the magic clinging to his existence, he swung the sword down.

A blast of red hot flame shot forward a thin line of concentrated fire. It blasted through the centipede, burnt through the poison and through the hard, segmented body. The flames cooked the beast from the inside out.

The large head rocked a little and then it sagged and crashed to the floor. The eyes stayed on David, and he watched it too. The sword cracked and shattered, its flames fading into the air. The fire about him faded too. His body shivered, and pain crushed whatever air was left in his lungs. He saw the centipede die, and saw the notification.

He staggered forward, trying to catch himself, but his vision was dimming and he could hear so many thuds closing in. More monsters, he thought. How bad had he failed? He couldn’t even protect them. Then the trees swayed sideways and the ground rushed up to meet him.

When he opened his eyes, Zoey’s hand was on his chest. He still felt weak, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Chloe was crying beside him and Elisha was trying to shush her up. Zoey saw him open his eyes first. Her frown deepened.

“You could have died,” she said and David groaned.

“I appreciate you too, Zoey.” He rolled his eyes and tried to sit-up but his vision still blurred. He settled back down and closed his eyes.

“Is it really dead?” David asked, opening his eyes just a bit to see Zoey nod.

“You killed it, David,” Elisha said. “And believe me, that was badass!”

Yeah, David though, it really was.